Minister and Sydney/Whitney Pier MLA Derek Mombourquette insisted today that "Cape Breton is not dying".

His statement comes in direct contradiction to what Senator Dan Christmas said in November 2017. It also most certainly conflicts with the views of the renewed and fast-rising Equalization movement in Cape Breton. They believe our decline and economic struggles are due to a lack of fair distribution of Federal funding that is intended (Constitutionally) to keep the province on a par with the country's wealthier provinces.

Part of the challenge when using such metaphorical language is locking down a definition of what "dying" actually means. As a region, if the people who live here leave faster than we can replace them, that might be considered one reasonable definition.

If those who leave withdraw from the local economy and reduce the tax base, this results in more cutting of services, degradation of infrastructure or even dissolution as municipal units - which is about as close to the idea of "dying" as you can get for our communities.

Our population peaked in the 1960s, but we've since fallen to the 1930s level of population within the boundaries of the CBRM. Our population decline continues at a pace of about 1,000 people per year.

It is ok for Mombourquette to offer a bullet point list of what the Liberal government has invested in our region if he sees political value in doing so, but it should not come at the expense of denying the harshness of our economic reality. When our MLAs start fighting harder to protect their political party than they do their communities, we know it's time to look for new leaders to replace them.

If Mombourquette really wanted to use his power as a Minister to help Cape Breton and the CBRM, he should be in Premier McNeil's office demanding that we double the provincial Equalization transfer to $64 Million a year, something that would actually have an immediate and significant impact on our economic conditions. At the very least, we could fill some potholes.

We can't afford any time dancing or skating around it. No fancy stick handling. Just a slapshot into the back of the net for the win. Take the shot!

Today's spin by Mombourquette to diminish the perception of the hardships of our region make the idea of him fighting to get us an increased transfer highly unlikely. When asked by CBRM Councillors, as shown in the video above, he seemed eager to get away from having to make a specific commitment to it. Perhaps he's banking on Marconi students buying their lunch on Charlotte St. instead of Welton St. as being his political career builder. Though the Marconi campus relocation project has some merit, it's ultimately one very expensive small step for the CBRM, but certainly no economic moonshot.

NOTE: The views expressed above are my own and do not represent lokol (goCapeBreton.com). Read more